| * Equity markets start April on sour note * Deadline looms for India bank license hopefuls * Novartis loses Indian patent case * China PMI: on the up * GM urges Seoul to act over currency * Argentina reveals payment offer to holdouts * Rurelec plans to sue Bolivia * China deaths raise bird flu fears * Privately run press returns to Myanmar Markets: mainly down Equity markets start April on sour note
London, 10.15 BST Asian stocks started April on a sour note as Japanese shares were hit by continued weak business sentiment while China's factory output growth missed estimates.
http://on.ft.com/YVGrWw Deadline looms for India bank license hopefuls
In India, everyone wants to start a bank, with dozens of companies already vying to win one of the first new banking licenses to be issued in more than a decade.
http://on.ft.com/YVG9 Novartis loses Indian patent case
India's Supreme Court has rejected a plea from Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceuticals group, to patent its cancer drug Glivec, in a landmark ruling that health activists say will allow India's generics industry to keep making cheaper versions of newer medicines.
http://on.ft.com/10gjMXu China PMI: on the up
When it comes to manufacturing indices, China is the big one. The question is which index to look at: the official state figures, or the widely-used HSBC/Markit index? They can often show different results.
http://on.ft.com/10gx4Dv GM urges Seoul to act over currency
The chief executive of General Motors in South Korea has urged the new government to act against its rising currency, as carmakers express concern that a weakening Japanese yen is undermining the competitiveness of South Korean exports.
http://on.ft.com/14yXYdX Argentina reveals payment offer to holdouts
Argentina has filed its long-awaited offer to holdouts to a New York appeals court. The biggest surprise is that some people were waiting (hoping?) it would actually contain some surprises.
http://on.ft.com/109f51J Rurelec plans to sue Bolivia
UK-based power generator Rurelec will take the Bolivian government to court on Tuesday over the nationalisation of its assets on May Day 2010.
http://on.ft.com/14yY8lu China deaths raise bird flu fears
Two people in China have died and another is critically ill from a strain of bird flu that has never been passed to humans before, according to China's health authorities.
http://on.ft.com/10mB6Jx Privately run press returns to Myanmar
For most people in Myanmar, it will be a novelty when privately run daily newspapers hit the streets on Monday. Many were not even born when the late dictator Ne Win imposed a state monopoly on the daily press in the 1960s.
http://on.ft.com/16qRv3l Emerging Markets
MSCI Emerging Market Index down -0.23% at 1,033 Europe
FTSE up +0.38% at 6,412
RTS down -0.80% at 1,448
Warsaw Wig down -0.22% at 45,148
FTSE 300 Eurotop up +0.41% at 1,189 Americas
DJIA up +0.36% at 14,579
S&P 500 up +0.41% at 1,569
Bovespa up +0.57% at 56,352 Asia
Nikkei 225 down -2.12% at 12,135
Topix down -3.30% at 1,001
Hang Seng down -0.74% at 22,300
Shanghai Composite down -0.10% at 2,234
MSCI Asia ex-Japan down -0.19% at 472.74
S&P CNX Nifty Index up +0.38% at 5,704 Currencies
€/$ 1.28 (1.28)
$/¥ 93.48 (94.18) Commodities
Brent Crude (ICE) down -0.42 at 109.60
Light Crude (Nymex) down -0.60 at 96.63
100 Oz Gold (Comex) up +3.90 at 1,599 | 
